Well, it’s almost June. I knew this month was going to come soon enough and for me it means the start of the Final Countdown.
As of tomorrow, I enter the final two-and-a-half months of my journalism career. I started writing as a young buck part-time sports writer for The Register-Herald when I was 16. So in all reality, I’m looking at the back end of an 11 year odyssey of sorts that has taken me from a sports writer, to a news writer, and now as a writer/commentator on higher education issues.
There is so much that has filled these past 11 years and the many stories that I could fill blog pages after blog pages chronicling the lives of the people I’ve met or the stories of some of the behind the scenes work. When I entered journalism it was primarily so I could get a free ticket to sporting events (I’m not ashamed to admit that). But I loved sports. I love the competition, the athleticism and seeing people accomplish their goals. As former Chief Justice Earl Warren once said, “I always turn to the sports pages first, which records people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.”
I’ve often thought and do to this day that I’ve been blessed as a writer. Even though I don’t consider myself a great writer, I’ve been able to chronicle some amazing stories and be apart of even more interesting people. In 11 years, I’ve covered national championships, the accomplishments of athletes, small town dirt track racing, local community politics, and the dangers of government spending.
My favorite story to cover was that of a young cross country athlete in West Virginia. The story sort of just came together. I had to write a feature and I hadn’t done anything on this certain team and knew the girl was good. The coach set it up and the story was even better. Long story short - the girl had overcome a lot primarily because of running. The story ran and I believe it was among the best in the state that year. But the biggest joy came in seeing her reaction and that of her mother after the story ran and the joy they received in being chronicled in print.
What a gift to be able to give someone - to tell their story and to give them joy.
Of course, on the other side, are the stories that you wish you never had to write. There are many. There were the stories in late 2002 and early 2003 of families going off to war to an undisclosed location, but all knew they were going to Iraq. While it was nice to share the stories of the families and to bring them comfort through words, you wished you didn’t have to write the story because of the circumstances surrounding.
There were the stories of murder and the mysterious deaths of three elderly women in a small North Carolina town. Of course, the yard sale articles were never my cup of tea.
My most intimidating article or interview was with former W.Va. Gov. Bob Wise. He was speaking in Clarksburg, W.Va., days after he had disclosed he had an extramarital affair with a state employee. You had the asked the questions about his future and everything surrounding the story and then you felt dirty afterwards and ashamed you had to pry into a man’s personal life like that.
All in all, I believe, God placed me in each these situations and many more for a reason - I couldn’t tell you what, though. Perhaps it was giving joy to someone to seeing their name in the paper, or writing about a family whose husband was going off to war, or even promoting an issue for people so that they will have more information on the subject.
Regardless, it’s been a fun ride and it’s time to start this new chapter in my life. Where it will take me? I’m not sure. It’s daunting and overwhelming, but exciting all the same.
And who knows, I’m sure God will place me in some interesting and intimidating situations down the road as well. Luckily, I’ll have these past 11 years to fall back on as a tutorial.
